Left-handed pitcher Trevor Reckling is #1 on the FutureAngels.com 2009 Top 10 Prospects list.

The FutureAngels.com 2009 Top 10 Prospects report is now online. Click here to read the report on the FutureAngels.com web site.

The Top 10 are:

1. Trevor Reckling LHP
2. Garrett Richards RHP
3. Will Smith LHP
4. Hank Conger C
5. Mike Trout OF
6. Jordan Walden RHP
7. Mark Trumbo 1B-OF
8. Peter Bourjos OF
9. Randal Grichuk OF
10. Alexi Amarista 2B

Please feel free to post comments and feedback here.

Would you get out of bed at 2 AM for a rocket launch?

That's what we did last night. United Launch Alliance sent a communications satellite into orbit at 1:55 AM EST. The launch window opened at 12:50 AM but was delayed twice due to high winds at upper altitudes, so we got up at 12:30 AM and waited ... and waited ...

Click Here to watch video of the launch. You need Windows Media Player and a broadband (cable modem, DSL) Internet connection to watch. This was filmed from our driveway in north Merritt Island, about five miles from the Kennedy Space Center south gate.

As always, a reminder that sounds travels slower than light, which is why you don't hear the roar of the engines until nearly a minute later.

I'm wrapping up the 2009 FutureAngels.com Top 10 Prospects report. I hope to publish it sometime tomorrow.

As a warmup, Click here to read previous FutureAngels.com Top 10 Prospects reports. I've written one every fall since 2001.

Last year's list:

• 1. Will Smith LHP
• 2. Jordan Walden RHP
• 3. Mark Trumbo 1B
• 4. Hank Conger C
• 5. Nick Adenhart RHP
• 6. Ryan Chaffee RHP
• 7. Peter Bourjos OF
• 8. Kevin Jepsen RHP
• 9. Matt Brown 3B-1B
• 10. Luis Jimenez 3B

Five of those ten are on this year's list.

Two articles in the November 23rd Florida Today about the collapse of the Florida Winter Baseball League.

Click here to read the article by sports editor Lee Nessel.

Click here to read the article by yours truly.

From what I've been able to find, Florida Today seems to be taking the lead on this story. Nothing in the Miami Herald or Orlando Sentinel, papers that are on top of this story geographically but so far seem to not know about it, or not care.

If you've been following along, you know I've been writing about six former Angels minor leaguers in a new circuit called the Florida Winter Baseball League.

Skeptics, including me, didn't think the league would last long, but we never anticipated it would fold after only fifteen games.

As expertly covered by Mark DeCotis of Florida Today, the first paychecks bounced, and the league suspended operations.

I was asked by Central Florida News 13, the local cable TV station, to do a standup interview about the league folding. Why? Because I'm around and everyone else is gone.

Click Here to watch the news segments as they appeared throughout the evening. You need Windows Media Player and a broadband (cable modem, DSL) Internet connection to watch.

I'm writing more about this on my other site, SpaceCoastBaseball.com, so head over there if you're interested.

I may be doing a piece for the local paper too. I'll post that link if/when it's published.

Former Orem Owlz outfielder Trevor Pippin is with the FWBL's Miami Diamantes. He plays the outfield and pitches in relief.

Not many articles lately, but then there hasn't been much to write about.

I wanted to let you know that I have been busy on Angels stuff.

In particular, I've been researching the annual FutureAngels.com Top 10 Prospects report. Unlike other fan sites who write these reports, I go out to see these players myself, and I talk quite a bit with people in the organization to find out what they think are the prospects' good and bad points.

Some statheads claim you can't talk to the people who actually watch the players because they're biased. Well, all I can say is that when I talk to staff on background they're pretty honest with me. I can read a line of stats as much as anyone else, but without the context they're meaningless.

This year, I have an extra advantage, a manager with another organization who saw some of our prospects. His opinions confirmed some of mine, but his insight also caused me to drop someone I wanted to include.

Look for the article somewhere around Thanksgiving.

If you're a regular reader, you know I've been busy with the Florida Winter Baseball League. If that interests you, visit my other web site at www.spacecoastbaseball.com.

Six former Angels minor leaguers are in the FWBL. Stantrel Smith, Baron Short and Anthony Sullivan are here with the Space Coast Surge. Tyler Johnson and Trevor Pippin are down in Miami with the Diamantes. Chris Garcia is in Sanford with the Seminole County Naturals. We form somewhat of an Angels clique within the league, and FWBL management is well aware these are my kids. Their Surge teammates know there's some sort of bond among us, although I'm not sure they know exactly what it is.

The Surge were at Seminole County this weekend. Chris Garcia homered off his former teammate, Baron Short. The next inning, I was walking past the Naturals dugout when Chris comes out to take his position at first base. He sees me and puts out his hand for a high five. I'm thinking, "Sure, but you just lit up Shorty."

Now I know how the Weaver parents feel when Jared and Jeff square off.

For those of you who remember Trevor Pippin, he was an outfielder with Tempe and Orem. He's still an outfielder with Miami, but he's also been pitching in relief for the Diamantes. I mentioned it to some of his former coaches, and they recalled he'd pitched as an amateur before the Angels signed him.

The box score for Sunday's Miami-Lake County game shows that Pip entered the game as a pinch-hitter for the designated hitter, which made him the DH, then he pitched in the bottom of the 8th. If the DH takes the field during a game, then his team may no longer use the DH and the pitcher must bat. But this is the first time I've ever heard of the DH becoming the pitcher.

Since the DH is eliminated once he takes the field, even as a pitcher, then once he's relieved as a pitcher anyone who follows him on the mound would also have to bat. But what if he moves from pitcher to another position? I guess the relieving pitcher would have to bat in the slot of the guy the ex-DH replaced.

This is why I hate the DH.

I went over to Titusville today to videotape the STS-129 launch. Click Here to watch the launch. You need Windows Media Player and a broadband (cable modem, DSL) Internet connection to watch.

Regarding the screaming kid in the background ... Some parents turned loose their two-year old to play on the rocks down by the river. A couple minutes before launch, he throws his toy dump truck into the river, and as it floats away he starts screaming that he lost his dump truck. Being a two-year old, of course, nothing is going to make him happy, not even after someone fished out his dump truck. He kept screaming all the way through the launch. Gee, thanks.

A reminder when you watch the video that the speed of sound is roughly 1,100 feet per second. If you time from the moment of launch until you first hear the roar of the engines, we're roughly about 10-12 miles from the launch pad.

You'll also notice a tall crane between the pad and the Vehicle Assembly Building. That's for a new platform that will one day carry Constellation to the launch pad. The future of Constellation, however, is up in the air, no pun intended.

An unmanned rocket was supposed to launch on November 14 but had a last-minute glitch, so it was rolled back to its assembly building. No ETA on that one.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know I've been researching the early history of the Angels minor leaguers, which began in 1961 the same as the parent club.

We held a reunion in late September of surviving Statesville Owls players. I videotaped the event and hope to have it online in a few days.

I'm editing the video now and was reminded of what someone said at the table. I checked Google and, sure enough, it's true.

Some of you may remember Ken Hunt, an Angels outfielder in 1961-1963.

One of the alumni recalls Hunt saying, "My son makes more money than I do!"

A new minor league game of the week is now on FutureAngels.com. This is the second of four games in memory of Nick Adenhart.

May 9, 2006 ... The Cedar Rapids Kernels visit the Dayton Dragons (Reds affiliate). Nick pitches seven shutout innings, striking out nine and walking one while giving up four hits.

Some other interesting notes about this game.

Two players in the lineup were converted later in their careers into pitchers and made it to the big leagues with other organizations. DH Warner Madrigal, who homers in the game, is now a reliever with the Rangers. Travis Schlichting, who plays third base, pitched briefly for the Dodgers this year in relief.

In addition to Madrigal, Mark Trumbo and Jordan Renz also homer in the game.

The link is on the home page at www.futureangels.com. You need Windows Media Player to listen.

Chris Garcia spent two seasons split between Tempe and Orem.

I've been writing about the Florida Winter Baseball League and its former Angels minor leaguers. Three of them are here with the Space Coast Surge, and two are down in Miami.

I found a sixth. Chris Garcia, who played first base for Tempe and Orem in 2007 and 2008, is with the Seminole County Naturals. One week into the season, he's second in the league in batting average at .391, 9 for 23.

I'll see Chris this weekend. The Surge will be in Sanford, about 60 miles from here, to play the Naturals on Sunday. I'll be doing photos and video for the league at the 1 PM EST day game.

The three former Angels with the Surge are Baron Short, Stantrel Smith and Anthony Sullivan. Tyler Johnson and Trevor Pippin are with the Miami Diamantes.